2023/2024 EL Group F: Villarreal - Rennes - M. Haifa - Panathinaikos

[bugylibicska]

Group winner:

Villarreal 2.10
Rennes 2.50
Panathinaikos 5.00
Maccabi Haifa 21.00

[Dragonite]

Congratulations Villarreal!


Like Rangers in Group C, they too had a "zero sum" here, but in the opposite order. Here they first lost in Greece against the lowest ranked opponent, but now won in Spain against the highest ranked opponent.


I watched this match and referees + videoclowns were terrible.

Firstly they wanted to give a penalty kick for Rennes for an incident involving Reina and Muinga, where Muinga shot the ball alone and "when the ball was already out of the pitch" Reina then crashed against him.

Then although they didn't give a penalty kick in this moment, later another incident, this time involving two Rennes forwards in Villarreal's box, was another penalty kick candidate!

And they spent an enormous amount of time trying to find the right frame to support their decision!

This is ridiculous. Either the foul is crystal clear and then they should be able to see it in a few seconds, or if they need 4 minutes with 20 different angles and 10 different speeds to "maybe" see something then it's not a foul!


And then Reina saved the penalty kick anyway!!


In the other match, Panathinaikos with 0 shots on goal...

[bugylibicska]

To win the group:

Rennes 2.05
Villarreal 2.05
Panathinaikos 8.50
Maccabi Haifa 29.00

Rennes and Villarreal are big favourites to go through. Panathinaikos after an excellent start fading away. Maccabi Haifa are outsiders.

[Dragonite]

Expected win for Rennes.

The Villarreal vs Maccabi Haifa match was postponed to December 6th.

[bugylibicska]

To win the group:

Rennes 2.05
Villarreal 2.05
Panathinaikos 8.50
Maccabi Haifa 29.00

Rennes and Villarreal are big favourites to go through. Panathinaikos after an excellent start fading away. Maccabi Haifa are outsiders.

Group winner:

Rennes 1.53
Villarreal 2.25
Maccabi Haifa 151.00
Panathinaikos 151.00

Panathinaikos are still alive, but hanging by a thread. Even if they do the double over Villarreal probably not enough.

[Dragonite]

Expected wins for Rennes and Villarreal.

Interesting things happening in both matches here.

In Rennes vs Panathinaikos, Rennes won despite playing in numerical disadvantage since the 33rd minute. Usually a penalty kick + red card situation like this is a game changer, here it wasn't.

And in Maccabi Haifa vs Villarreal, Keouf saved a penalty kick, the penalty kick was repeated and Keouf saved it again, and despite this, Villarreal scored twice in the last 10 minutes so Maccabi Haifa still lost the match.

[matt]

Rennes and Genesio parted ways. Stephan returns to the rouge and noir bench.

[Dragonite]

Congratulations Rennes and Villarreal!



They both reached the EL KO stages, and now they'll fight for the first place. Rennes must avoid defeat to keep it, while Villarreal must win to get it.

Rennes and Genesio parted ways. Stephan returns to the rouge and noir bench.

Villarreal also changed manager during November, Pacheta left and Marcelino returned.

It's interesting, Marcelino left Marseille a few days before the EL start, but he didn't stay away from EL for a long time, three rounds later he was back.

We'll also have a fight for the third place here, Panathinaikos must avoid defeat to keep it, while Maccabi Haifa must win to get it.

Maccabi Haifa never won an away match in EL. Their best results away were a 2-2 draw against Shakhter Karagandy in 2013, and now the 0-0 draw against Villarreal a few days ago. Apart from that, they lost all the other EL away matches that they played (Schalke 04, Steaua Bucharest, AEK Larnaca, PAOK, AZ Alkmaar and Rennes).

Actually it's even worse than that, they never won an away match in CL or Conference League or the old UEFA Cup too!!! Their only away wins are in pre-group stage qualifiers.

They have an away win 30 years ago in the Cup Winners Cup second round against Parma.

And in the UYL they have three away wins against Shakhtyor Soligorsk in 2016, Zalgiris in 2021 and Benfica in 2022.

Even with a "simple" win (and for Maccabi Haifa winning away isn't simple, otherwise it would have happened several times during the last three decades) they'll still be the worst ever Maccabi Haifa in EL history, they need at least a 5-1 win to avoid it.

But it's harmful to put this burden in their heads, they're not competing against 2013/2014 Maccabi Haifa, they're competing against 2023/2024 Panathinaikos, and they "only" need a win.

[Firnen]

Prediction

1. Rennes
2. Villareal
3. Panathinaikos
4. Maccabi Haifa

*Sigh*
Panathinaikos failed miserably after a good start, and I missed the 1st place prediction thanks to VAR in 90+12.

[Sagy]

Prediction

1. Rennes
2. Villareal
3. Panathinaikos
4. Maccabi Haifa

*Sigh*
Panathinaikos failed miserably after a good start, and I missed the 1st place prediction thanks to VAR in 90+12.

Pana’s failure is even worse than it looks, they should have lost in round 2 to Haifa. In round 1 they were better than Villarreal, but had XP of under 1. They were not far from finishing the group with only 1 point. To be fair, with some luck, they finish with 9 points (2 wins, 3 ties)

[Dragonite]

Congratulations Villarreal for winning the group!


And congratulations Maccabi Haifa for getting the third place here!

We'll also have a fight for the third place here, Panathinaikos must avoid defeat to keep it, while Maccabi Haifa must win to get it.

Maccabi Haifa never won an away match in EL. Their best results away were a 2-2 draw against Shakhter Karagandy in 2013, and now the 0-0 draw against Villarreal a few days ago. Apart from that, they lost all the other EL away matches that they played (Schalke 04, Steaua Bucharest, AEK Larnaca, PAOK, AZ Alkmaar and Rennes).

Actually it's even worse than that, they never won an away match in CL or Conference League or the old UEFA Cup too!!! Their only away wins are in pre-group stage qualifiers.

They have an away win 30 years ago in the Cup Winners Cup second round against Parma.

And in the UYL they have three away wins against Shakhtyor Soligorsk in 2016, Zalgiris in 2021 and Benfica in 2022.

Even with a "simple" win (and for Maccabi Haifa winning away isn't simple, otherwise it would have happened several times during the last three decades) they'll still be the worst ever Maccabi Haifa in EL history, they need at least a 5-1 win to avoid it.

But it's harmful to put this burden in their heads, they're not competing against 2013/2014 Maccabi Haifa, they're competing against 2023/2024 Panathinaikos, and they "only" need a win.

Maccabi Haifa's win in Greece is remarkable!

First ever away win in Maccabi Haifa's EL history.

First time since 2006/2007 that Maccabi Haifa overwinters.

Hopefully both these will start happening more often now.

Prediction:
1. Rennes
2. Villarreal
3. Panathinaikos
4. M. Haifa

I was right about the top 2 and bottom 2, but wrong about their orders.

[Polak]

Initial prediction

This is another one of those groups where 1st place seems obvious. Villarreal won their Conference League group with a B team but they got knocked out. Here I suspect they'll play a stronger team. Any of the others could finish in any position.

1. Villarreal
2. Rennes
3. Panathinaikos
4. Maccabi Haifa

Actual table

1. Villarreal
2. Rennes
3. Maccabi Haifa
4. Panathinaikos

Got 1 and 2 correct but thought the Greeks would be able to get 3rd after knocking out a team like Marseille in the CL qualifiers.